Personal protective equipment (PPE), such as for example respirators, are widely used in a variety of different applications. For example, many workplaces that subject an employee to hazardous atmospheric conditions require the employee to wear respiratory protection for several hours per day. To be effective, respiratory protection requires a proper seal upon a facial area of the user. A poor seal and thus poor fit may result in leakage and the possibility of the inhalation of contaminants.
Finding a respirator that fits a unique facial area of the user can require the user to try on many different types and sizes of respirators. In some workplace environments, valuable time can be spent attempting to find an optimal fitting respirator. In other workplace environments, an employee may not be able to find a respirator having a suitable fit. For example, the employee may not be given adequate time to try on different respirators, or the employee may not be given an adequate variety of respirator samples to try. Because of the general lack of efficiency and practicality in the prior art there may be a need for a new and improved system and method for predicting an optimal fit of a respirator to a facial area.